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Audi’s plug-in hybrid version of the A3 is coming to the U.S. with a program to offset carbon emissions(Photo: Audi) As if electric cars weren’t “green” enough, Volkswagen and Audi say they are going to invest in projects that will offset the carbon emissions created in production, distribution and driving of their respective plug-in cars. The goal, VW announced at an industry conference in Traverse City, Mich., is to create…

They came in all makes and models — old and new, red, black and phantom gray. They had names: “Zippy,” “the Philly Mobile.” And they carried memories — of trips to Disneyland, the beach and big moves to Los Angeles. But on Tuesday, in an obscure baseball stadium parking lot just west of the 405 Freeway, almost all of the 340 mud-covered cars lined up next to one another had…

TOKYO—In results that underscore a global car-industry trend, Toyota Motor Corp. said its earnings were bolstered by growth in regions like the U.S. and Europe, while sales in once-hot emerging markets remained weak. Toyota reported a modest rise in earnings for the quarter ended June, citing weak sales in Thailand, India, Indonesia and Brazil,…

Gannett and USA TODAY headquarters in McLean, Va., in suburban Washington.(Photo: Evan Eile, USA TODAY) Gannett, owner of USA TODAY, has agreed to buy the shares of automotive sales site Cars.com it doesn’t already own for $1.8 billion, according to Bloomberg News, citing a person familiar with the matter. Cars.com is owned by Classified Ventures, a joint venture of Gannett and four other newspaper and former newspaper companies: McClatchy, Tribune…

FRANKFURT—BMW AG has reported an unexpectedly big jump in net profit in the second quarter as the world’s largest maker of premium cars benefited from continued strong demand in China as well as buoyant sales of its bigger, high-price models. The German auto maker said net profit rose 27% to €1.77 billion ($2.37 billion) on a 1.8% rise in…

The lightweight, compact DC Fast Charger will power 80% of the BMW i3′s battery in 30 minutes. BMW The biggest problem automakers selling electric cars face is limited range. No one wants to get caught without any juice. To get around this concern, Tesla, whose Model S offers the best range (up to 265 miles), is building a vast network of “Supercharger” stations that make it possible to take epic…

Nearly a hundred years ago, a deal between Henry Ford and Thomas Edison to make electric cars fell apart because 1914 battery technology wasn’t up to the job. From then on, cars ran almost exclusively on gas, driving us straight into our current global warming mess. Now, Ford has joined companies like Tesla and Chevrolet to finally build electric vehicles en masse. Toyota started the craze with its gas-electric…

General Motors Co. must turn over documents related to its subprime auto-lending under a subpoena issued by the U.S. Justice Department, the Detroit auto maker disclosed in a regulatory filing Monday. GM’s car-financing unit said it received the subpoena July 28 in connection with a federal investigation of subprime auto loans dating to 2007. The statement said the request was “in contemplation of a civil proceeding for…

My close friend, Greg, has spent the last 5 years complaining about Acura’s sedan offerings. He bought a new 2004 Acura TL a decade ago and loved it. His opinion wasn’t unique, as the 2004 TL was the best-selling model in Acura’s product line 10 years ago. But Acura’s ability to put a sedan at the top of its sales charts has slipped, along with the brand’s overall sales, since the mid-2000s. My…

General Motors Co. must turn over documents related to its subprime auto-lending under a subpoena issued by the U.S. Justice Department, the Detroit auto maker disclosed in a regulatory filing on Monday. GM’s car-financing unit said it received the subpoena on July 28 in connection with a federal investigation of subprime auto loans dating to 2007. The statement said the request was “in contemplation of a civil proceeding for…

Gannett and USA TODAY headquarters in McLean, Va., in suburban Washington.(Photo: Evan Eile, USA TODAY) Gannett, owner of USA TODAY, has agreed to buy the shares of automotive sales site Cars.com it doesn’t already own for $1.8 billion, according to Bloomberg News, citing a person familiar with the matter. Cars.com is owned sold by Classified Ventures, a joint venture of Gannett and four other newspaper and former newspaper companies: McClatchy,…

My close friend, Greg, has spent the last 5 years complaining about Acura’s sedan offerings. He bought a new 2004 Acura TL a decade ago and loved it. His opinion wasn’t unique, as the 2004 TL was the best-selling model in Acura’s product line 10 years ago. But Acura’s ability to put a sedan at the top of its sales charts has slipped, along with the brand’s overall sales, since the mid-2000s. My…

General Motors Co.’s GM Financial credit operation was served with a subpoena by the U.S. Justice Department ordering that it turn over documents related to its subprime auto-loan operations, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing Monday. GM Financial said in its filing that the Justice Department served the subpoena on July 28 in connection with an investigation of origination and securitization of subprime auto-loan contracts…

Earlier this year Ford Motors closed down some of its U.S. based factories to allow for the reconfiguration of the manufacturing process of its F-series trucks. The best selling series of trucks were previously made of steel bodies but the new process will allow them to be made with aluminum bodies. The advantages of aluminum bodies are obvious: aluminum is lighter than steel and a lighter vehicle has better acceleration, fuel-economy,…

General Motors Co. is again trying to use “old” GM’s Chapter 11 case to protect itself from lawsuits related to an ignition-switch defect, this time the suits filed by drivers who got into accidents before the 2009 bankruptcy court sale. In a Friday filing with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, lawyers for GM said the wording of the sale order approved by the court places lawsuit liability with the old…

A year and a half ago, state Rep. LaShawn Ford left the federal courthouse in Chicago facing the loss of his legislative seat and potentially years behind bars if convicted of bank fraud charges stemming from his side job rehabilitating distressed homes on the city’s West Side. Today, in a surprising deal with prosecutors, Ford pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor tax count after federal prosecutors agreed to drop the…

My close friend, Greg, has spent the last 5 years complaining about Acura’s sedan offerings. He bought a new 2004 Acura TL a decade ago and loved it. His opinion wasn’t unique, as the 2004 TL was the best-selling model in Acura’s product line 10 years ago. But Acura’s ability to put a sedan at the top of its sales charts has slipped, along with the brand’s overall sales, since the mid-2000s. My…

TURIN, Italy—Fiat SpA shareholders approved a reorganization that opens the way for the Italian car maker that owns Chrysler Group LLC to move its headquarters to the Netherlands, its tax domicile to the U.K. and list its shares in New York. With Friday’s green light from shareholders, Fiat will now merge with a Netherlands-based entity and take the name Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, which reflects its 100% control of Chrysler….

My close friend, Greg, has spent the last 5 years complaining about Acura’s sedan offerings. He bought a new 2004 Acura TL a decade ago and loved it. His opinion wasn’t unique, as the 2004 TL was the best-selling model in Acura’s product line 10 years ago. But Acura’s ability to put a sedan at the top of its sales charts has slipped, along with the brand’s overall sales, since the mid-2000s. My…